Document 22111

Essays of an Information Scientist, Vol:5, p.524-532, 1981-82
Current Contents, #20, p.5-13, May 17, 1982
Is Research on Trichomonfasis
Commensurate
wkh the Prevalence
of Thfs STD?
Number
May
20
Last year I wrote a two-part essay on
herpes simplex virus infections. 1z In it, I
noted that although herpes has been
known for over 2,000 years, it has only
recently attracted the attention of medical researchers. But herpes, specifically
HSV2, is just one of several sexually
transmitted diseases (STDS) whose incidence has recently reached dramatic
levels. This “new generation” of STDS,
as they are popularly labeled, includes
not only genital herpes, but also nongonococcal urethritis (an inflammation
of
the urethra
not due to gonorrhea),
pelvic inflammatory disease, candidiasis
(a vaginal yeast infection), and trichomoniasis.s.’l Although they have probably existed since antiquity,
they are
“new” in the sense that modem laboratory techniques to discover their prevalence, method
of transmission,
and
health consequences have only recently
been developed.3
By far the most widespread
of the
new STDS is trichomoniasis.
The incidence and virulence of trichomoniasis
in men is currently a matter of dispute in
the scientific community. But this heretofore little-known
disease, still often
unreported
by public health agencies, s
is estimated to occur in over 50 percent
of women with abnormal vaginal discharges, ~ or about 20 percent of the female population of the US.’ In fact, the
Centers for Disease Control estimates
that there are three million new cases of
trichomoniasis
each year, thereby surpassing the incidence of syphilis, gonorrhea, and genital herpes combined. ~
524
17,1982
This essay examines the etiology and
epidemiology of trichomoniasis,
and the
controversy
surrounding
its diagnosis
and treatment.
Trichomoniasis,
a chronic disease of
the urogenital tract, affects both men
and women.4 It is caused by a protozoan
of the genus Tn”chomona.r, a common
parasite in the digestive systems of many
animals. Humans may host three species
of trichomonad: Perrtatn’chomorsa~ hominis, in the intestine; Tn”chotrronas tenax,
in the mouth; and Trichomonas vaginali.r, in the vagina or the male urethra. 6S
T. vaginalis is the only species known to
cause disease, possibly due to a tozin it
produces which causes an inflammatory
response.g
The symptomatology
of trichomoniasis is somewhat difficuh to characterize.
Clinical manifestations
of the disease in
the female urogenital system differ from
those presented by the male. But symptoms vary even among patients of the
strains of
same sex, since different
T. vaginalis seem to have different
pathogenic capabilities. Symptoms may
even worsen and improve repeatedly in
the same patient. Consequently,
while
trichomoniasis
in women is usually
characterized
by a copious, foamy, yellowish-green discharge that may have a
foul odor, as well as mild to severe
vaginal itching and burning, fully 25 percent of women harboring tnchomonads
have no symptoms at all. ~1~
Among women who do display symptoms, clinical manifestations
of the disease may not be limited to vaginal dis-
charge and itching. Additional
symptoms may include the following: vulvar
irritation
and chafing of the upper
thighs and rectal area; dull lower abdominal pain; difficult orpainfulurination and coitus; small rash-like “strawberry” spots on the cervix and vaginal
lining; and swelling of the lymph glands
in and around the groin.l~ Early studies
associated trichomoniasis
with cervical
cancer,ll but Iaterstudies
have failed to
confk-m such a Iink.lj Yet the prevalence of trichomoniasis
is higher in
women with cervical cancer than in
healthy women. 13This may simply indicate that trichomonads
find cancerous
tissue a suitable invasion point, 14 But
there is also the possibility that the superficial cell damage T vaginalis causes
leaves the urogenital tract more susceptible to carcinogens. The possibility that
the protozoans themselves may release
carcinogens does not seem to have attracted much attention. 14
While tnchomoniasis
in men is most
often asymptomatic,
it may sometimes
cause a slight urethral discharge, which
may or may not be accompanied by irritation.
The clinical
significance
of
T. vagina[is in male urologic conditions
is somewhat
controversial,
however.
Most American investigators
feeI that
men serve primarily as carriers, spreading symptomatic tnchomoniasis
among
women. They have found T. vaginalis
to be infrequently
the
cause
of
nonspectlc
urethntis and prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate gland). Yet
the methods used to examine specimens
from the male urogenital
system for
evidence of T. vaginalis may fail to
detect the protozoan as much as 50 percent of the time.l J
Most European investigators,
on the
other hand, believe that T. vaginalis is a
major cause of disease in men as well as
women. It is thought to be responsible
not only for a significant proportion of
the cases of nongonococcal
urethritis
and prostatitis,
but also some cases of
balanoposthitis
(inflammation
of the
525
head and foreskin of the penis), epididymitis (inflammation
of the coiled structure along each testicle in which spermatozoa mature), and constriction
of
the urethra. 13
The vast majority of trichomonal infections are transmitted by sexual intercourse.a The highest incidence of the
disease is in females between the ages of
16 and 35, with the greatest rate of infection among those women who are at
risk for other venereal diseases. lo The
prevalence
of infection
ranges from
three to five percent of the asymptomatic women examined by private physicians, to 13 to 23 percent of the asymptotnatic women examined in gynecological cfinics. The incidence rate among
prostitutes
is 50 to 70 percent. 10 Male
sexual partners of women afflicted with
tnchomoniasis
have T, vaginahs infestations 80 percent of the time, while female partners of infected males afmost
always harbor the organism. IS The dtiference has been attributed to the difficulty of detecting or culturing trichomonads from specimens of semen, urine,
and urethral secretions, rather than to
any actual absence of the protozoan in
the male.
Since trichomoniasis
is universally
recognized
as an STD, it is standard
medical procedure
to treat the sexual
partners of patients with diagnosed infections as well as the patients themit is generally
acselves. However,
knowledged
that in unusual circumstances, the disease may be contracted
through nonvenereal
means. [j For example, infected women may transmit
trichomoniasis
to their infant children
during childbirth.~ 13Moreover, according to P.R. Mason, University of Zimbabwe, in a 1980 review, T. vaginalis
has a demonstrated
ability to survive
outside the body for some time. 1AThe
protozoans
can remain active in urine
for several days and in tap water for several hours. (Incidentally,
Mason’s paper
appears in the selected bibliography from
the research front on the pharmacology
of metronidazole
against
anaerobic
bacteria,
culled from the 1981 1S1/
BIOMEDTM, which is listed in Table 1.)
Consequently,
an infection may be
contracted
from communal
bathing
water, or from contact with contamittated bath or toifet [email protected]—--possibly even
from contact with urine on toilet seats. 14
Indeed, a letter appearing in Larrcet in
1953 suggested that contaminated
toilet
seats might be responsible for as much as
80 percent of trichomonal infections. lb
Later research has failed to confirm any
prolonged viabilhy of trichomonads
on
toifet seats, however, l’1~ and in a major
review of T, vagina[is published in 1978,
B.M. Honigberg noted that there had
been, up to that time, no decishe evidence that bath or swimming pool water
could serve as a source of tnchomonal
infection.lg
A positive diagnosis of trichomoniasis
in both men and women depends upon
demonstrating
the presence of even a
organism in specisingle T, vaginalis
mens obtained
from the urogenital
tract.~lo In women, the most commonly
used diagnostic procedures include taking medical hktones,
making physical
examinations,
preparing
microscope
slides and cultures of vaginal specimens,
and performing
Papanicolaou
(Pap)
smears. z~ Unfortunately,
none of these
methods alone is totally reliable.
The failure of common diagnostic
methods to reliably detect T. vaginalis
can be traced to the elusive nature of
the protozoan itself. Medical histories
and physical examinations
are of little
use in diagnosing
women who are
asymptomatic.
Even when symptoms
are present, other STDS must be ruled
out, and the presence
of T, vaginalis
clearly demonstrated,
before a positive
diagnosis may be made and treatment
begun. 13The method of mixing vaginal
specimens with a saline SOIUtion and examining them under a microscope for
trichomonads
(the
so-called
“wet”
mount procedure) depends for its success on the actual observation
of the
526
highly mobile protozoans
with their
lashing, whip-like flagella.8 Yet T. vagina/is is extremely
sluggish at room
temperatures,
and various studies indicate that wet mounts are only 60 to 70
percent accurate for women. 13 “Dry”
mounting, in which specimens are prepared with various stains, fixatives, and
cover slips for permanent mounting and
viewing, is of even more questionable
value. The preparation
process necessarily kills any T. vagirsali~ organisms
present in the sample, and dead trichomonads
are almost indistinguishable
from Leukocytes.a Even culturing, the
most sensitive diagnostic tool, will allow
trichomoniasis
to go undetected in ten
percent or more of asymptomatic women.8,10,20,21 And
the effectiveness
of the
Pap smear is highly disputed.
A standard Pap smear is obtained by
scraping cellular material from the cervix, staining it, and examining it for
diseased tissue. The sensitivity of the
Pap test in detecting
tnchomonads
ranges from 60 to 80 percent. 10A study
by Michael R. Spence and colleagues,
Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore,
Maryland, comparing the diagnostic effectiveness
of the Pap smear with
culturing, wet mounts, and other procedures was published in Sexually Transmitted Diseases in 1980.z~ Despite the
fact that trichomonads
are rarely present in the cervix— except when the
vagina is heavily infestedlo—and despite
their own finding that the Pap smear is
only 65 percent accurate in diagnosing
trichomoniasis,
the authors reco-mmend
the Pap test as the preferred diagnostic
procedure. zo Whife culturing proved to
be the most sensitive technique in their
study, Spence and colleagues consider it
too expensive and impractical to justify
its use in all clinical settings.
And
although they concede that wet mounts
are inexpensive and easily performed,
no patient in their study who had a
positive wet mount failed to be identified by either culturing
or the Pap
smear. Moreover,
the Pap smear indi-
cated T. vaginalis infections
in four
cases in which results from other diagnostic procedures
were negative. The
authors conclude that the Pap smear is
simple and efficient, and since it is often
a part of a woman’s annual physical examination, it is both adequate and convenient for detecting trichomoniasis.
Yet, it is precisely the Pap smear’s predilection for indicating trichomoniasis
where other procedures have not, as well
as its tendency to miss trichomonaf infections that have not reached the cervix,
that have led other investigators to recommend against relying on it. In a 1972
study of 1,199 women with vaginitis (inflammation of the vagina), use of the Pap
test gave false results in 580 (48,4 percent) of the cases when it was relied upon
as the criterion of evahsation.zz A 1979
letter to the editors of the Journal of the
Amen”can Medical Association (JAMA )
notes that in a study of 666 women who
were diagnosed as having trichomoniasis
based on the results of their Pap smears,
there was no evidence of T. vaginalis in
either the wet mounts or the cultures in
246 (37 percent) of the cases.za The letter
recommends
that treatment for trichomoniasis be reserved for those whose infections are indicated by Pap smears and
confirmed
by other diagnostic procedures.zA
The presence of T, vaginafis in the
male urogenital system has historically
proved even more difficult to demonstrate than in the female. Since most
men infested with the protozoans
are
asymptomatic,
a successful
diagnosis
depends on culturing them or microscopically observing them in specimens
of urine, semen, and urethral secretions. However, as in the case of the
asymptomatic female, these procedures
rely heavily on there being a certain
minimum number of viable organisms
present in the samples. Unfortunately,
whether because of spontaneous clearing of the infection,
the mechanical
removal of the trichomonads
due to the
repeated
passage of urine, or simply
because
the urethra
does not offer
T. vaginalis as ideal an environment for
reproduction
as the vagina does, the
organisms are often present in such low
numbers that they go undetected. z~ Incidentally, it has recently been determined that the prostate gland is also an
unlikely site for T. vaginalis to thrive in
because of the concentration
of zinc
present in normal prostatic secretions.25
As of the mid-1950s there was no successful, specific treatment for trichomoniasis. 26 Nearly 150 clifferent substances
were then being used and recommended
for tnchomoniasis,
although none were
particularly effective. (Incidentally,
one
of these drugs was Argyrol, zb a silver
protein antiseptic which I mentioned in
my recent two-part essay on its inventor, Albert C. Barnes.z”.zs) It was not
until 1960 in Europe, and 1963 in the
US, that an extremely effective treatment was introducedtp—metronidazole,
which is currently manufactured
in the
US by G.D. Searle & Company under
the trade name, Flagyl.~
Metronidazole is a member of a group
of related chemicals known as 5-nitroimidazoles, which work against anaerobic organisms—that
is, organisms that
thrive only in the absence of oxygen,
such as T, vaginalis. The killing action of
such drugs involves
their chemical
breakdown by the target organism. The
resulting chemical
compounds
avidly
bind to the target cell’s DNA, causing
breakage.Jl Besides metronidazole,
the
only member of the group available for
human use in the US; the- 5-nitroimidazoles also include such agents as dimetridazde and ronidazde,
used to prevent
infections in fivestock,sz and tinidazole
and nimorazole, which are used in Europe as alternatives to metronidazole in
the treatment of trichomoniasis. 15,3
Metronidazole’s
efficiency in combating tnchomoniasis
is unquestioned
and
unsurpassed.
Cure rates of 95 percent
were recorded
in 1977, for instance,
from regimens of 200 mg given orally
three times a day for seven days (or only
a single 2 g dose administered orally).~
Poor absorption of the drug in the intes-
527
tines or its excessive destruction
by
vaginal flora was blamed for the few
cases in which infections persisted despite several courses of treatment,34
although there have been some recent
reports
of drug resistant
strains of
T, vagirmli.r. 31J5-3~Metronidazole
is also
effective in treating diseases caused by
other species of protozoans,
such as
amebiasis (infection by the amoeba Entamoeba histolytica),
and giardiasis (infection by a protozoan
of the genus
Giardia, causing diarrhea). In addition,
it greatly reduces the risk of infection by
anaerobic organisms after such procedures as colonic surgery, js
Yet, while metronidazole’s
known
side effects of nausea, headache,
dry
mouth, and metallic taste were relatively mild and self-limiting,
disturbing
reports of possible carcinogenic
(cancer-causing),
mutagenic
(mutationcausing), and teratogenic (birth defectcausing) effects began to come to the attention of practitioners. ~y Just prior to
its release in the US, for instance, the
Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics warned that metronidazole
had “an
unusual range of toxic effects for an
agent to be used clinically in a non-lifethreatening
disease. ”Jg The effects at
high dosage levels included neurological
disorders, testicular damage, and disturbance in sperm formation in the male,
and heightened susceptibility to candidiasis in the female. The report concludes that metronidazole shotdd beadministered with caution in women, and
not at all in pregnant
or lactating
women, or in men (unless the female
partner becomes reinfected).sg
In a 1974 letter to the commissioner
of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Health Research Group
in W ashirtgton, DC—founded by Ralph
Nader—urged
that
the FDA
take
“prompt action” to forbid use of metronidazole for the treatment of trichomoniasis, because the drug caused cancer,
gene mutations, and birth defects.~ A
Letter,~
1975 report in the Medical
commenting
on the Health Research
528
Group’s charges, notes a 1972 study in
which mice fed metronidazole
throughout their entire lives suffered an increased incidence of lung cancer, as
well as a variety of other malignant
tumors not found in control animals.~1
Female rats also showed an increased
incidence of various tumors, particularly mammary neoplasms.
In addition, the Medical Letter reports a study in which the mutation rate
of certain strains of bacteria (Sa/mone/1Utyphirnurium ) increased due to doses
of metronidazole, ~t and another
in
which the urine of patients taking 750
mg of the drug per day caused genetic
changes in the batter-ia.~z In fact, one of
the products resulting from the body’s
assimilation of the drug that was found
in the urine of these patients was discovered to be far more mutagenic than
the drug itself.
The Medical Letter concludes
that
metronidazole
is carcinogenic
in rodents, mutagenic in bacteria, and potentially dangerous for humans. It also
repeats its earlier warning that the drug
should be avoided during pregnancy,
and adds that it should not be used in
the treatment of trichomoniasis if the infection can be rendered asymptomatic
by any other means.~
The evidence declaring metronidazole unsafe has not gone unchallenged,
however. According to a 1979 study, the
increase
in the number
of cancers
among women treated with metronidazole is not enough to be statistically
significant .41
In response to the petition by the
Health Research Group asking the FDA
to withdraw its approval of metronidazoie, Alexander
M. Schmidt, thencommissioner of the FDA, stated that a
substance which is carcinogenic
(or is
suspected
of being carcinogenic)
in
laboratory test animals is not necessarily
so in humans. ~ Moreover, it has been
found that an increase in the incidence
of tumors in mice can be explained by a
number of environmental
factors that
have nothing to do with the suspected
carcinogen.q~ Many laboratory animals
are never exercised, kept one to a cage,
and allowed no sexual activity. These
conditions seem to result in severe hormonal imbalances—which,
in turn, are
a likely cause of the observed high incidence of mammary, pituitary, adrenal,
and other tumors. In addition, the proportion of carbohydrate to protein to fat
in the animals’ diets influences the number of tumors appearing in a given population. Even the amount of total calories consumed has a significant effect
on tumongenicit y. Indeed, in many instances, the standard laboratory feed of
test animals itself contained significant
amounts of such potent carcinogens as
aflatoxin,
3,4-benzopyrene,
and dimethylnitrosamine
.qs
Concerning the drug’s pozsible mutagenicity, chromosomal
analysis of patients taking 200 mg of metronidazole
three times a day for seven days showed
no increase in the expected number of
chromosomal aberrations.% Moreover, it
has been found that the levels of
mutagens
associated
with the body’s
metabolism
of metronidazole
can be
reduced from seven- to over ninefold by
the concurrent administration of erythrom ycin, an antibiotic,
with an antioxidant-with
no reduction in metronidazole’s anti-trichomonal
effectiveness.qT,@
And while there is stifl marked reluctance to prescribe the drug to pregnant
and lactating women, since it diffuses
freely across the placenta and is excreted
in breast milk, there has been no recorded case of damage to either the fetus or
the suckliig child that can be blamed
directly on metronidazole.~
With the evidence concerning
the
safety of metronidazole
inconclusive,
perhaps caution in its use is called for.
There is no question that its effect on
T. vaginalis is spectacularly lethal. The
issue centers on whether or not the use
of metronidazole,
over which so many
unresolved
questions
hover, can be
justified against a disease whose main
effect seems to be one of discomfort.
Virtually
no study indicates
an increased incidence of cancer in humans
previously exposed to the drug: yet most
studies of this type have been conducted on relatively small numbers of patients, who were followed up for periods
of time that may well prove to have
been too short to observe metronidazole’s suspected carcinogenic
effects.s~
The evidence in human beings so far,
therefore, is adequate to exclude only
gross increases in cancer incidence due
to exposure to metronidazole.
On the “
other hand, trichomoniasis
may not be
as harmless as has historically been supposed,
since it has been recently
thought to be linked in some way with
cancer of the cervix.1~ Patients may be
faced with the paradox of risking cancer
from taking metronidazole
to avoid the
risk of cancer from tnchomoniasis.
In the US, several research projects
on tnchomoniasis
are currently under
way. The National Institutes of Health
(NIH) is sponsoring a study at Rockefeller University,
New York City. The
study is attempting
to describe
the
cytology of T. vaginalis and explain the
effects metronidazole
has on the protozoan’s metabolism.
At Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine, another
NIH-sponsored study is investigating the
mutagenic
effects in patients
being
treated with metronidamle.
The Mayo
Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, is studying the risk of developing
cancer in
women who have been exposed to metronidazole. At the NH-I itself, a study on
the structure,
division, virulence factors, and endogenous viruses of T. vaginalis and other pathogenic protozoa is
under way. Finally, a major collaborative research project on T. vaginalis has
been initiated by the University of Massachusetts and Johns Hopkins University, under the sponsorship of the NIH.
Although there are no research fronts in
ISI/BIOMED
on either Trichomonas
vaginalis or on trichomoniasis,
a selected bibliography from the two research
fronts on metronidazole
can be found in
Tables 1 a~d 2.
mentioned
Despite
the
projects
above, however, the lack of a research
front on both the disease and the dis-
529
Table 1: Selected bibliography of the research front on the pharmacology
anaerobic bacteria, contained in ISI/BIOMEDTM
1981,
of metronidazole
against
Dobti~ L. Mutagenicity testing of the antiparasitic drug entizol (Polfa) in the detection system of
Salmonella typhimun’um mutants. Mutat. Res 77:117-26, 1980.
Ford W D A, MacKeUar A & Rkhardaon C I L. Pre- and postoperative
rectal metronidazole
for the
prevention of wound infection in childhood appendicitis. J. Pedial. Surg. 15: 16G3, 19S0
Goldman P. Metronidazole:
proven benefits and potential risks, Johns HopkIn. Med. J. 147:1-9, 1980.
Guffbou J J & Meynmffer J. Letter to editor. (Rosacea, metronidazole
and pregnancy. )
fJril J Dertnafo/. 103:585, 19843.
Ingbsm H R, Hdt C J, Sfaslon P R, Thamgonmet D & Se4kon J B. The activity of metronidazole
against
facultatively anaerobic bacteria. J An[imicmb.
Chemofher. 6:343-7, 1980.
Klefn I R. Update: adolescent gynecology. Pedmf. Chn. N. Amer. 27(1 ):141-52, 19S0.
Mahood J S & WMfaon R L. Failure to induce sister cbromatid exchanges (SCE) with metronidazole.
Tox[co/, Lerf. 8:359-61, 1981.
Mason P R. Tricbomoniasis:
new ideas on an old disease. S. Afr. Med. J. 58:857-9, 1980,
Meyer E A & Radulescu S. Giardia and giardiasis, A dvan. Para5i!o/, 17:1-47, 1979,
Perez-Reyes E, Kalyanamman B & Mason R P. The reductive metabolism of metronidazole
and
ronidazole by aerobic liver microsomes. Me/, Pharmaco/. 17:239-44, 1980.
Sakamanca-G6mez
F, Casta~eds G, Farf6n J, SantJU6n M C, Mu=oz O & Armendsres S.
Chromosome study on bone marrow cells of patients treated with mewonidazole.
Arch. [n}e~r. Med. 1l(Suppl. 1):325-8, 1980.
Schwartz L E, Geard C R & Mftter R C. An investigation in vitro of the chromosomtal effects
of misonidazole. fnt, J, Rad{af Oncol Bio/, Phys. 6:915-21, 1980,
SefJgman S A & WUfJSA T. Infection with non-sporing anaerobes in obstetrics and gynecology,
BriI. J. Obstet. Gynaecol. 87: S46-55, 1980.
Voogd C E. On the mutagenicity of nitroimidazoles.
Murat. Res. 86:243-77, 1981.
Table 2: Selected bibliography of the research front cm the mutagenic
in fsI.lfffoMEDTM
1981,
action of metronidazo]e,
contained
Fox A. Light-microscopy
of membranoproliferative
glomerukmephritis
Type-11 (MPGN with
homologous extraglomerular
lesions). Amer. J, Chn. Pathol 76: W4-51, 1981.
Kfm Y & Mlcbael A F. Idiopathic membranoproliferaci\e
glomerulonephritis,
Annu. Rev Med. 31:273-88, 1980.
L&y M, SIcb M & Habfh R. Complement and nephritic activity in membranoproliferative
glomerulonephritis.
Arch. Fr Pedia[ 36( Suppl. ):64-74, 1979,
Mazzucco G, dl Betgiojoso G B, ConJaIonierf R, Coppo R & Monga G. Glomerulonephritis
with dense
deposiw a ~ariant of membranoproliferative
glomerulonephritis
or a separate morphological
entity? Virchows Arch, A Path Anat. His. 387:17-29, 19(K)
McLean R H, Siegel N I & Kash,garlan M. Activation of the classic complement pathway m
patients with the C3 nephritic factor. Nephron 2S:57-64, 1980.
Mezzano S, Otavati
F & Caord 1. Membranopro]iferative
glomerulonephritis.
Rev. &fed Ch,le I08:IW4, 19tU).
Nybers M, Petterason E, Taftqvlat G & Pastemack A. Survival in idiopathic glomerulonephritis.
AC(O Pathol. Mmrobiot, Stand. A 88:319-25, 1980.
ease-causing organism is significant, indicating a lack of basic research in these
areas. It is true that trichomoniasis
is
not a life-threatening
disease, Perhaps
justifiably, it attracts only a small fraction of the kind of research funds and
attention that are routinely devoted to
such major causes of death as cancer
and heart disease. But it is also true that
trichomoniasis
is a significant cause of
human discomfort
and misery. The
disease’s most disagreeable
symptoms
strike only women,
leading one to
wonder whether a possible sexist bias on
the part of the scientific and medical
establishments
could account for the
lack of interest. If tnchomoniasis were a
disease
that primarily
struck
men,
would
there
be significantly
more
money and research invested in it?
who thinks
so is
One clinician
Spence. He notes, “The literature
is
530
replete with references to [trichomoniasis] as a ‘minor’ venereal disease. It
doesn’t cause death, it doesn’t cause
sterility, therefore it’s not important. “37
Moreover,
Spence notes that federal
funds channeled to Johns Hopkins last
year for the study of nongonococcal
urethritis, an STD affecting only men,
amounted to significantly more than the
sum received for research on trichomoniasis.
But C.F.T. Mattem,
NIH, although
admitting that some clinicians may be
sexist, doubts that institutional sexism is
rampant in attitudes toward tnchomoniasis. He points out that, contrary to
what one would expect from a supposedly sexist medical establishment,
very
little attention
is being devoted
to
benign prostatic hypertrophy,
a condition afflicting only men. Moreover, he
says, physicians
treat any STD in
women seriously, since such diseases
carry with them a variety of serious-and
often multiple-risks
to patients, partners, and the unborn child,Jb
Both workers agreed, however, that
much work remains to be done on
trichomoniasis.
Spence would like to
see more work done on the pathogenesis of the infection, sTand Mattem thinks
an experimental model for studying that
pathogenesis
would be of great help.~
He also suggests that the mechanism by
which various strains of T. vaginalis develop resistance to metronidazole
needs
to be investigated.
But whatever the
specific area of research,
it is almost
certain that the field could benefit from
a more sensitive and compassionate
attitude toward the discomfort and suffering of others.
****
My thanks
for his help
essay.
●
to Stephen
in
the
A. Bonaduce
of this
preparation
ew2 ,S8
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